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January 28, 2016

(Alternate post title: Time to Throw a Molotov
Cocktail at a Gas Station Covered in Dry Grass and Fireworks)

This should be a given, but I’m going to ask that
anyone who’s stumbled upon this post should hold off on leaving a comment until
AFTER they’ve finished reading the post in full. Okay?
Okay. In exchange, I’m going to
undercut the post, the title, and myself by giving a straight answer: nooooooooooooooooo. The land of the rising sun has released
plenty of terrible games in the past, and it’ll always have the potential to do
so. By the same token, the west will
always be able to put out some of the best titles the world’s ever known --
especially with the rise of indie gaming.
It’s not a black-and-white case, and it never will be. A good game is a good game, no matter where
it’s from.

So why the post?
Why the incendiary title? Well,
I’ve been thinking (as I always do); I’ve been thinking about the games I play,
and the industry as a whole. On top of
that, I’ve taken note of my preferences -- and since I try to think critically
about why games work (or don’t), I’ve
been trying to figure out why I have
the opinions and preferences that I do.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s a reason behind my actions. They’re not always good actions -- and popular
opinions even less often -- but I think I may have figured something out.

January 21, 2016

I have a few confessions to make, and they’re
not at all conducive to my character or credibility. So let’s go ahead and rip off each Band-Aid
as fast as we can. And then dump a vat
of acid on the wounds.

January 14, 2016

Have I mentioned before how much I miss How I Met Your Mother? I have?
Well, I just thought I’d bring it up again -- because man, I loved that
show. Still do, arguably, seeing as how
there are still reruns airing.

I just thought I’d open with that, because 1) I
have a confession to make, and 2) I’m probably about to rustle a few tail
feathers. So here we go. Controversial opinion time. Ready?

I’ve never been able to make it through a full
episode of 2 Broke Girls. And thinking back on what I’ve seen, I’m kind
of proud of that fact.

January 11, 2016

Well, I wanted to make a subtitle that referenced Killer7, but a “classic”
joke will have to do.

Even though I’m probably going to finish this post
with a few thousand more words in place, there’s a part of me that’s struggling
to describe The Hateful Eight. Part of that has to do with the fact that I
knew virtually nothing about it going in besides the title and Quentin
Tarantino’s name attached to it. (He
didn’t steer me wrong with Django
Unchained, so he’s obviously earned my trust.) Information probably hasn’t been hard to come
by, since I’ve seen articles go up here and there on the internet. I never got around to reading them -- except
for one review that I clicked on, but couldn’t be bothered to actually
read. Because reasons.

Part of me thinks that that’s a mistake; staying
well-informed is vital in a lot of circumstances, even if it’s for something as
seemingly trivial as the entertainment industry (inasmuch as the haven of art
and creativity can be “trivial”). On the
other hand, maybe it’s nice to be surprised every now and then. If you don’t know what’s coming, then the
surprise can be that much more satisfying.
Or as pleasant as bathing with angry piranhas, but whatever.

So where does that leave The Hateful Eight? Pared
down to basics, I think it’s a good movie -- great, even. But it is absolutely, ABSOLUTELY NOT for the faint of heart. And I’ll explain what I mean…with enough
spoilers to shroud the entire west coast in darkness.

January 7, 2016

Okay, I know this is technically coming in a little
before the official 4-year anniversary, but since I didn’t do an end-of-year
post, I decided to get some of that stuff out of the way here, ASAP. That way I could move on to other, better (?)
stuff.

Now then.
Let’s start with a megaton of an announcement: I think I’m going to be a
Birdie specialist in Street Fighter V.

January 4, 2016

Okay, time for a controversial opinion (as if my
confliction over The Force Awakens wasn’t
bad enough): I think the Millennium
Falcon is kind of dumb-looking.

It’s all right, I guess. But for a ship of its supposed caliber and
speed, it’s kind of clunky-looking; shape-wise, it looks like a plate with some
shoehorns glued to it. No style, no
grace -- which is kind of the point, given its owners, but it’s still not what
I’d call ideal. Now, the X-Wing? Fine.
A-Wing? Cool. Y-Wing?
That’ll do. I know those aren’t
in the same class, but then I remember that the Star Destroyer exists and looks
cool (inasmuch as an imperial death machine deserves respect), so it’s just
like, “Yo, what happened, Han?” On the
other hand, the canon has also produced “beauties” like the B-Wing, so
their aerospace engineering is probably a little spotty.

I guess what I’m getting at here is that, like
I’ve said before, the past is not
sacrosanct. We don’t have to blindly
accept that everything from the good old days was perfect and exemplary,
because otherwise we end up in situations where “the things from the past are
always better than things from the present”.
By the same token, we
shouldn’t blindly reject everything because it’s from the past. Lessons can still be learned from it, and
elements (if not whole productions) are still appreciable. It’s all about balance, and giving credit
where credit’s due. Like and dislike
with reason and respect.

I just thought I’d throw that out there, in case
anyone reading this decided to hunt me down and pin my lifeless body to a
towering spire as a warning to their enemies.
So let’s move on…amidst all of the spoilers.